D.B. Hart: “For my money, if Origen was not a saint and church father, then no one has any claim to those titles.”

David Bentley Hart (born 1965) an Eastern Orthodox scholar of religion, is a philosopher, writer, and cultural commentator. His books include The Experience of God: Being, Consciousness, Bliss and That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, Universal Salvation, and The New Testament – A Translation. He lives in South Bend, IN.

“East or West, all Christians are burdened with the absurdities of Christian imperial history. But any conception of orthodoxy that obliges one to grant the title of “saint” to a murderous thug like Justinian while denying it to a man as holy as Origen is obviously—indeed ludicrously—self-refuting. And one does not defend tradition well by making it appear not only atrociously unjust, but utterly ridiculous.”

D.B. Hart, from Saint Origen, First Things, October 2015.

“For my money, if Origen was not a saint and church father, then no one has any claim to those titles. And the contrary claims made by a brutish imbecile Emperor are of no consequence.”

D.B. Hart, from Eclectic Orthodoxy blog post, 11 May 2015.

church, David Bentley Hart, eastern orthodox theology, eastern orthodox tradition, Origen of Alexandria, patristic fathers, Universal Restoration (Apokatastasis)

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